Bob CollinsThe Monday Morning Rouser:
If you don’t hunt deer, what on earth do you talk about at this time of year?
“Hunting season on the Mesabi Iron Range,” writer Aaron J. Brown says, “is 24 percent eating; 12 percent sauna; 25 percent riding ATVs; 20 percent riding trucks out to pull ATVs out of the mud; 15 percent driving bigger trucks out to pull that truck out of the same mud; 37 percent driving whatever’s left to town to buy all the parts that broke in this process; 4 percent in the outhouse; and 41 percent standing around a fire that slowly consumes wood and various things that are not wood.”
The rest of the time is spent hunting deer, he writes in his column, “The Iron Ranger who would not hunt.”
2) YOUR BEST FRIEND SHOULDN’T BE YOUR KID
The problem of parents unable to let go of their college-age kids doesn’t seem to be getting any better, the Boston Globe indicates.
It’s almost Thanksgiving; that’s about the time most colleges start seeing mommy and daddy — but mostly mommy — easing up a little on the helicoptering.
At one Boston-area college, a parent called to ask for more variety at the salad bar.
“This is not how all parents of college students behave,” Sarah Neill, dean of students at Simmons College, tells the Globe. “But there has been a real shift in the extent to which parents are involved and invested in the lives of their students.”
One study of college freshman found many parents are in touch with their kids twice a day and 75 percent of the kids thought that was just fine.
Professor Barbara Okun, who teaches counseling psychology at Northeastern University and has a private practice, says a client recently told her about going on a trip with other mothers.
“She said these other women were on the phone seven or eight times a day with their college kids,” says Okun. “I had to say it’s disturbed and disturbing, but it’s very common these days.”
Okun and others believe that parents often try to keep the bonds tight as much for their own sake as their child’s. “They think they’re doing it for their kids, but they’re doing it for themselves,” Okun says. “They need to be needed.”
As a result, the experts in the article say, college kids are unable to handle even the smallest problems.
Related: But sometimes, parents shouldn’t let go. And they don’t.
3) IS IT POSSIBLE TO SUCCEED WITHOUT OTHERS FAILING?
The Oil Patch of North Dakota may be great for people from other states looking for work, but it’s lousy for people from Williston who’d like to keep living in Williston. Supply and demand is sending rents through the roof, pushing out the locals, especially from mobile home parks.
Out-of-state companies are buying some of the housing parks and jacking up rents. “I heard about a little old lady sitting on her steps sobbing because she didn’t have any place to go,” an organizer of a protest Saturday told the Williston Herald.
The Fargo Forum carries a similar story today. Phyllis Larson, 76, finally retired for good two years ago. A few days after she did, she had to go back to her boss and ask for some hours. Her rent has nearly tripled in 10 years.
More information: Facebook group: The People of Williston Have Had Enough
Related: Slowing demand for frac sand changes the landscape in southeast Minnesota (MPR).
Karl Pearson-Cater says he’s a fan of concept of Car2GO, the tiny cars that people can rent by the hour, but did they have to dump so many of them in neighborhoods?
“We counted 5 parked Car2GOs at various locations and they seemed to just appear out of thin air — including right in front of my house. This seemed like a lame “awareness” marketing ploy to me,” he writes. “But I found out through Twitter and Facebook that they distribute these smart cars all over town and you use a smartphone app to locate where they are when you need to use them.
Car2GO says they won’t stay in one place long. “With the free float model, users determine where the cars start and end. They are generally redistributed within 24-72 hours,” a representative said on the group’s Facebook page.
Related: Why we drive (streets.mn).
You’d probably be dancing you if a few weeks ago they were calling for you to be fired because you have epilepsy, and now you’re the toast of the town.
More football: Despite being confined to a wheelchair for 10 years after an auto wreck, Pine Tree Junior High School (Longview, Texas) student Tyler Bain, 13, said he made the decision a month ago that he would walk onto the field before the seventh-grade A team’s final home game of the season.
Bonus I: Battle Scars, Still Stinging 70 Years Later (NY Times Lens blog)
Bonus II: A belated thanks to WWII volunteer for her service to troops (MPR).
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Daily Circuit (9 a.m-12 p.m.): First hour: Syria, the government shutdown, the NSA scandal, healthcare.gov’s rocky rollout. President Obama’s second term has hit some major snags. But if it’s any consolation to him, history shows us he’s not alone in suffering some second term blues. Nineteen Presidents have been elected to a second term, and one historian says that only seven of those “avoided a troubled or failed second term.” What is it about second terms? And is there anything President Obama can do to turn his around?
Second hour: Euan Kerr speaks with a member of the Minnesota Orchestra board and a musician about the breakdown of recent negotiations, the likelihood of Osmo Vanska returning, and whether there is an end in sight to the lockout.
Third hour: A recent report from Common Sense Media shows that time spent using technology – specifically mobile media device – by younger children has tripled in the last two years, and nearly twice as many young kids are accessing mobile media on a regular basis.
This rapid increase has led pediatricians to create a new set of guidelines for screen time for kids, claiming that excessive media use can lead to weight gain, aggression and sleep issues. But as technology continues to invade all aspects of our lives, how much can we really limit media use among kids – and don’t kids risk falling behind in school if they don’t have constant access?
MPR News Presents (12 p.m – 1 p.m.): A special program about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. (From Studio 360 American Icons series)
The Takeaway (1 p.m. – 2 p.m.)
All Things Considered (3 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) – Technology from Little Canada-based St. Jude Medical is giving doctors real-time detailed views of the inside of patients’ arteries. The system promises to better guide treatment for patients with coronary artery disease. And the company hopes to get a billion dollar kick in revenue, as a result. MPR’s Martin Moylan reports.
Health insurers report significant numbers of of Minnesota’s small group policy holders – firms with fewer than 50 employees who offer their workers insurance – have decided to renew their insurance early. The primary goal is to delay big price hikes that will kick in with the advent of the ACA’s major insurance changes in 2014. MPR’s Catharine Richert will have the story.
The disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov has put a spotlight on how the government hires tech contractors for large-scale projects. It can be a bureaucratic maze that favors big, entrenched companies. But a handful of cities are finding ways to solve this problem. They’re making the process faster and more open. NPR reports on reforming tech procurement.
